Breaking of Bread
“Do this in remembrance of me” are words we hear often. What
exactly did Jesus mean his followers should do?
Jesus spoke these words at the Last Supper which was at Passover
time. It was a special meal because of the imminence of Jesus’ death. If it
were actually a Passover Meal, several cups would have been on the table. Luke
mentions two:
And he took a cup,
and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves;
for I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine
until the kingdom
of God comes.” And he
took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them,
saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise
the cup after supper, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new
covenant in my blood.” (Luke
22:17-20)
Jesus took one of the cups and gave it new meaning, the New
Covenant in his blood. When he asked his
disciples to remember him in this way, it could have two possible applications.
(1) It could mean: Remember me each time you eat a special meal together.
(2) Since, however, bread
and wine were normal constituents of meals in Bible times, it could
alternatively mean: Remember me every
time you have a meal (i.e. everyday). It was normal for a Jewish meal to begin
with the head of the household breaking bread and distributing it to those
eating, as Jesus did at Emmaus (Luke 24:30).
In different circumstances on board ship Paul likewise prayed and broke
bread and encouraged everyone to eat food (Acts 27:33-36). The meal would end
with a prayer of thanks and with the cup being passed round “after supper” as
in Luke 22:20.
The believers in Jerusalem
at first broke bread daily:
...they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (Acts
2:42)
...day by day,
attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook
of food with glad and generous hearts....
(Acts
2:46)
Further
on, in Acts 20:7, the believers “were gathered together to break bread” on the
first day of the week on the night before Paul was about to depart. It is not
clear whether this means they regularly met on the first day of the week, and
only then, for the Breaking of Bread.
Nor is it clear at what point in history the Breaking of Bread became
separated from a full-scale meal. Some
would see the distinction as early as Acts 2:42, while many consider that Paul’s
comments in 1 Corinthians 11:22 helped to bring this about:
For in eating,
each one goes ahead with his own meal, and one is hungry and another drunk.
What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in?
(1
Corinthians 11:21-22)
Paul’s
point seems, however, not to be directed at stopping the Breaking of Bread from
being part of a meal, but at stopping gluttony and selfishness at the meal.
It seems likely that practice varied among early ecclesias as to
what was done, how frequently, and at what time of day. If, however, such matters had been of any
definite ritual importance, they would surely have been prescribed in detail.
So, when we break bread week by week are we carrying out what
Jesus had in mind when he said, “Do this in remembrance of me”?
If Jesus was thinking of his disciples remembering him at a meal,
then we do not do so in this sense, for the Last Supper was a full-scale meal.
At Passover time, the bread would have been unleavened, but most ecclesias use
ordinary bread. Apart from in very small
ecclesias, ecclesias in Britain
usually drink from several communal cups, while a few ecclesias use individual
glasses. In several respects, therefore, we do not appear to be following the
specific practice as done at the Last Supper.
On the other hand, the particular aspects of the meal chosen by
Jesus were the bread and the wine. To each he gave a symbolism associated with
his own sacrifice. When we take the bread and the wine, we remember Jesus,
meditating on many aspects of his exemplary life and on the sacrifice of that
life which he made for us.
Is it important, therefore, whether we match the precise details
of the Last Supper? Does it matter
whether the bread is leavened or unleavened, white or brown, machine-sliced or
a home-baked roll? Does it matter
whether we use non-alcoholic grape juice or alcoholic wine, red or white, neat
or watered-down? If we worship “in
spirit and truth”, the answer is: No.
What is important is to remember Jesus and live in him. The bread and the wine help us to do that,
but remembering him is much more than taking the bread and wine.
In John 6 there is a discussion between Jesus and the Jews, in
which Jesus said:
“Truly, truly, I
say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you
have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my
blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me,
and I in him.... This is the bread which came down from heaven.... ... he who
eats this bread will live for ever.”
(John
6:53-58)
These
verses are often quoted at the Breaking of Bread, and it is appropriate to do
so. They are nevertheless symbolic. As indicated earlier in John 6, the meaning
of such symbolism lies in accepting Jesus as the one sent from God and in
living a Christ-centred life:
“Do not labour for
the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life....”
“This is the work
of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” ...
“I am the bread of
life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall
never thirst.” (John 6:27-35)
The
same message is given elsewhere in the Gospel of John, using the symbolism of water:
Jesus said to her
[the woman of Samaria],
“Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of
the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give
him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John
4:13-14)
Other symbolical/metaphorical ways of describing the work of Jesus
are in John 8:12 (Jesus is the light of the world), John 10:9 (Jesus is the
door), and John 15:1 (Jesus is the true vine). Like all metaphors, these are
not to be taken literally. They are different ways of vividly presenting what
it means to live with a true understanding of goodness (light of the world);
what it means to understand the true way of entry into salvation and service
(Jesus is the door); and thirdly (the true vine), how to live a fruitful and
Christlike life.
“You are already
made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine,
neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
(John
15:3-4)
These
descriptions, including the eating of Jesus’ flesh and the drinking of his
blood, are vivid ways of saying that Jesus must be the basis through and
through of all we do and all we are.
When, therefore, we remember Jesus in the bread and the wine, we
are reminding ourselves in symbol about all that is important. It is not the
actual act of taking the bread and drinking the wine but the spirit behind it
which makes it worthwhile. The fact that we only partly follow the detail when
we commemorate the Lord’s Supper is not something to worry about, for the
reality lies not in the detail but in the spirit of remembrance and in the
extent to which that becomes real in our lives.
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